“In Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Divine bodily.” - Colossians 2:6, 9
Kempton New Church

Week 1
Day 1

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Uses in General

And there shall be no night there, and they have no need of a lamp and the light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. —Revelation 22:5
With those who are in the delight of uses from genuine love towards the neighbor, their natural light is also rational light, within which there is spiritual light from the Lord. The glory with them is from the brightness of the inflowing light from heaven, where all things are splendid and harmonious, for all uses in heaven are resplendent. —Apocalypse Revealed 940e

In the Lord, there is Love, Wisdom and Use.

Matthew 17:1-3. And after six days, Jesus takes Peter, and James, and John his brother, and brings them up into a high mountain by themselves, and was transformed before them; and His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light. And, behold, there was seen by them Moses and Elijah, speaking with Him.

DLW 296. There are in the Lord three things, which are the Lord: the Divine of Love, the Divine of Wisdom, and the Divine of Use. And these three are presented in appearance outside the sun of the spiritual world. The Divine of Love is presented by heat, the Divine of Wisdom by light, and the Divine of Use by the atmosphere, which is their containant ….

DLW 297. Everyone who thinks with some enlightenment can see that love has use for an end, and intends it, and produces it by means of wisdom. For love by itself can produce no use, but it can do so by means of wisdom as a means. Indeed, what is love unless there is something that is loved? This something is use, and because use is what is loved, and is produced by means of wisdom, it follows that use is the containant of wisdom and love….

From these facts it can be established that these three, the Divine of Love, the Divine of Wisdom, and the Divine of Use, are in the Lord, and in essence they are the Lord.

Love, wisdom and use are inseparable:

TCR 387:3. An angel said… “Love and wisdom without the good of use are not anything; they are merely entities of the mind, and they do not become real until they come forth in use. For love, wisdom, and use are three things that cannot be separated. If they are separated, none of them is anything. There is not any love without wisdom, but in wisdom it is formed for something, and the thing for which it takes form is use. Therefore, when love, by means of wisdom, is in use, then it really is, because it actually comes into existence….”

TCR 387:5. “Geometry also teaches that nothing is complete and perfect unless it is a trine. For a line is nothing unless it becomes an area, and an area is nothing unless it becomes a solid. Therefore, one must pass into the other in order that they may come into existence, and in the third they exist together…. And it is from this that the number “three” in the Word signifies what is complete and whole. This being so, I could not but be surprised that some professed to believe in faith alone, some in charity alone, and some in works alone, when yet one apart from the second, or both together apart from the third, are nothing.”

TCR 387:6. But then I asked, “Is it not possible for a man to have charity and faith, and yet not works? Can’t a man have a fondness for something, and give thought to it, and yet not be in the performance of it?”

The angel answered me, “He cannot really, but only mentally. Even then he will be in the effort or will to do it, and the will or effort is the act in essence, because it is a continual striving to act, which becomes an act in externals in approaching its object. Therefore, effort and will, as an internal act, is accepted by every wise man, because it is accepted by God, precisely as the external act, provided there is no failure to act when the opportunity arises.”

Questions and Comments
  1. “In the Lord is the Divine of Use.” What uses do you think of the Lord performing? Is the Divine of Use like the Holy Spirit? Is one of the Lord’s uses to inspire and guide us in the performance of uses?
  2. What would be an example of love seeking wisdom so that it can perform a use?
  3. Can you think of an example of a love without wisdom, and so without use? Can you think of an example of wisdom without love, and so without use? How about an example of a task or work done without much love or wisdom, so that it is not useful?
  4. What happens to a love or intention that is never fulfilled in act?
  5. How does the principle that effort and will is accepted as the external act (provided there is no failure to act when there is an opportunity) apply to the way we view a friend, or a child?
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